The main plot involved the evil Generalissimo Takada attempting to destroy the professional wrestling on behalf of the mixed martial arts, leading his villanous Takada Monster Army against the good side represented by Naoya Ogawa and his wrestling allies from the HUSTLE Army. The story had his growths in the MMA-like wrestling company which Takada founded, UWF International, which was destroyed by traditional pro wrestling and led to his founder to seek revenge against it (in kayfabe, but not completely; see YMMV for more). HUSTLE's plot brought all kinds of figures and characters, like Yinling the Erotic Terrorist and the renowned Hard Gay, who saw the start of the promotion's most succesful era, and it finally ended in 2009 with the "death" of Takada against an one night enemy called King RIKI. The promotion started a fast decline and closed doors the same year, having outlasted both DSE and PRIDE.

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HUSTLE figures as one of the fanciest Japanese wrestling companies ever, standing toe-to-toe with New Japan Pro-Wrestling at its pike, and was known for its long run in big arenas despite its frequently difficult profitability (as it's popularly said that a big chunk the money DSE earned with PRIDE was spent with HUSTLE). It was mainly targetted to audiences who had become tired of regular puroresu after the MMA boom, and arguably had success, as it had a solid fanbase both out and in Japan, and is fondly remembered by many Western puroresu fans.

Tropes associated with HUSTLE:

Action Girl: Karate Girl. (She'd go on to have a good run in Ice Ribbon)

Brainwashed: HUSTLE loved the trope, most probably as a way to work around the wrestlers' changes of alineation without tapping into the classic pro wrestling Three Month Rule (which would have been incoherent in a promotion so focused in storylines).

Naoya Ogawa was brainwashed by Takada and repacked as "Monster Celeb" Naoya Ogawa.

Hard Gay was inadvertently brainwashed by the Dr. Nakamatsu and turned into the sadistic Monster HG, until Real Gay managed to free him.

TAJIRI was hypnotised by Yinling, but snapped after a time when he was attacked by the also brainwashed ACHICHI.

Fan Disservice: The third HUSTLE event featured Joe Son (yes, that Joe Son, the future convict and MMA adventurer) singing and dancing a slow rap while wearing his signature thong and makeup. His performance did have some melancholic beauty, but otherwise it was freaking creepy.

Insult Backfire: Mick Foley and Toshiaki Kawada played this before their Triple Crown Championship match, while recalling their old tenures in AJPW. Foley said he remembered Kawada as a lazy wrestler. Then Kawada replied he didn't remember Foley at all.

Living Weapon: During the "Dynamite Hardcore HUSTLE Weapons Match" in 2004, in which different (and improbable) weapons were introduced by raffle, Giant Silva was introduced as a literal living weapon to aid Kintaro Kanemura's team.

During the PRIDE rise, there were negotiations to stipulate a fight between Nobuhiko Takada and Naoya Ogawa, but Ogawa refused and the bout never had place. Takada retired from MMA and stayed as a Dream Stage Entertainment executive, while Ogawa left the business to work full time in Pro Wrestling ZERO-ONE. Shortly after, DSE and ZERO-ONE joined forces and created HUSTLE, whose theme was the feud between Takada and Ogawa, albeit with renovated motivations.

In 2007, Ogawa turned heel and became "Monster Celeb", with Takada explaining that the judoka had been bribed with Monster Dollars to bring him to his side. This storyline was created to explain Ogawa's departure, as he was leaving HUSTLE for Inoki Genome Federation looking for a bigger pay.

Shoot the Messenger: Wataru Sakata did the rare heroic example when Private Shimada attempted to recruit him for the Monster Army in a ZERO-ONE show. Sakata's response was giving him a tombstone piledriver and pledging loyalty to the HUSTLE Army.

Shout-Out/Take That!: After All Japan Pro Wrestling decided to push the limits of puroresu traditionalism by putting female wrestler Akira Hokuto in an intergender match and even allowing her to win after a ref bump, HUSTLE decided to take a step forward and put a model-turned-wrestler to defeat a world judo champion. Yinling's pinfall over Ogawa was heard around Japan.

Those Two Guys: An evil example in Commander An Jo and Private Shimada.

Took a Level in Badass: In 2009, Real Gay swore to free Hard Gay from his brainwashing and started to make his best efforts in the ring against the Monster Army mooks to get it. He finally got it.

Wrestling Monster: What, you think the word monster is being thrown around on this page just for show? HUSTLE had guys who made The Undertaker look mundane. The Esperanza was perhaps the standout example.

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